Sunday, May 11, 2008

10AM - Tower of David Museum.This morning, Little Mavicito and I have headed out to the Tower of David Museum. The main reason that we are going here is the exhibit of a model of the Old City as it was about 1870. The area where the ruins of the City of David are located is shown in this model.

When we first arrived at the Tower of David Museum, we went to the roof and became awe struck with the view!

Looking toward the Temple Mount from the Tower of David Museum.

Pic below shows what you are looking at!

Click to make big & click again to make huge!

Do you worry about retiring on a small budget?

When I got cancer back in 2000, I found that I could not work anymore. And I had planned on working until I was at least 70 years old. So, I applied for Social Security benefits. However my monthly Social Security check was just about equal to the rent for my apartment. This was NOT going to work!

Somehow I struggled along financially during my cancer treatment. By the time February, 2003 rolled around and my cancer doctor told me I was in remission, I had a financial plan!

I had always wanted to own an RV. However, on my budget, living in an RV would not work if I stayed in RV campgrounds. That is how I came to be a "Vagabonder-Supreme!" I would not pay rent and that would allow me to live on a small budget.

A change in direction.If you have read my blog and website for awhile, you may already be familiar with the financial part of my story. I began to write my blog about my RVing life in May, 2003. By April, 2004, I began to earn AdSense income. By 2007, income from Social Security and AdSense was about $2,000/month. Not a lot, but enough to put away some savings.

A couple of months ago while traveling in Mexico, I began to wonder about living in foreign countries. Some of my fellow RVers in Mexico had traveled to Central America. I wondered about going there myself in MsTioga.

Maybe that is what got me to think about traveling to Israel. If I was able to live in America and Mexico on my $income$, why wouldn't I be able to live in another country?

Back to the old rent challenge.My income was still not enough to do foreign trips. Hotel rooms cost much too much! Here in Israel, it is very common to spend $120+/nite on a hotel room. No way could I afford that kind of rent.

I began to search on the internet for a cheaper way to live in a foreign country. I had heard about Craigslist and found that there was one of these for Jerusalem. [Link] It took me a few weeks of answering ads on Craigslist, before I figured out what kind of rental I would need to live within my budget.